The Quincy Police Department was one of the first law enforcement agencies to distribute a drug called Naloxone, a drug used to reverse opiate overdoses.
Police Lt. Patrick Glynn told NPR that the experimental drug, along with EMT training for every cop and tweaking of the so-called Good Samaritan law to eliminate prosecution for small amounts of drugs in lifesaving emergency situations, has led to a 66 percent reduction in deaths due to heroin and other overdoses.
He said people are seeing the police as helpers rather than simply officials who prosecute any law-breakers.
(LISTEN to the story from NPR’s Weekend Edition or READ the story from WBIR)